U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes asked two top-ranking Navy admirals about a rumor he'd heard: that the Navy was considering deferring the purchase of the Newport News-built John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier by two years.

The answer he received in a subcommittee hearing Tuesday — a beat of silence followed by a deflection — left him and other members of Virginia's congressional delegation unsettled.

"Whenever you see two admirals who are silent on a question, normally that's indicative of the fact that they really need to think about how to respond," said Forbes, R-Chesapeake, who chairs the Readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

"You had two admirals there who should know about this, and they looked at us with that deer-in-the-headlights look. That should give us all cause for concern," Forbes said.

While the Navy goes through great pains to keep its annual budget deliberations private, Forbes said he and other members of Congress expected that if the carrier delay wasn't on the negotiating table, the admirals would have been quick to dismiss it.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., the parent company of the 19,000-worker Newport News shipyard, is the nation's lone builder of aircraft carriers. Under current Navy plans, it is scheduled to receive the contract to build the Kennedy, the second carrier in the Gerald R. Ford class, next year.

But amid its annual budget talks for fiscal year 2013, the Navy is weighing an option to hold off on buying the $10.3 billion Kennedy until 2015, a move that would save the sea service money in the short run but is projected to raise the overall cost of the carrier by hundreds of millions of dollars, sources told the Daily Press and other publications within the last week.

The sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal Navy talks, said the option of delaying a carrier is one of several budget maneuvers the service is considering. The Navy has said it does not comment on internal budget deliberations.

Forbes and other members of Virginia's congressional delegation vowed to fight delaying the carrier, a move they say would be "foolish," "absurd" and "short-sighted" and have wide-ranging implications for the Newport News shipyard, its suppliers and for national security.

Virginia's politicians may have an ally in newly confirmed Defense SecretaryLeon Panetta.

During Panetta's confirmation hearing before the Senate, Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat, "asked for and received an assurance that the secretary is committed to the growth of the Navy to 313 ships," said his spokeswoman, Allison Jaslow. "This commitment obviously would assume a carrier force of 11 aircraft carriers."

Nonetheless, Forbes' hearing and talks of delaying the Kennedy this week got the attention of lawmakers in Hampton Roads.

"An extension would end up costing (the Navy) more than it would save, which would be an absurd thing to do," said Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, a Newport News Democrat whose district includes the shipyard.

"We're going to end up having to save money throughout the federal government, and the Defense Department will not be exempt from budget cuts," Scott said. "But as you cut, you want to do so in such a way that will actually save you money."

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, the co-chair of the Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus, said a carrier delay would irrevocably harm an already-fragile industrial base, including the Newport News shipyard, and raise concerns about national security.

Wittman said it's critical that the United States has 11 active aircraft carriers to ensure that any six of them are deployable at any time.

At a time when the Defense Department is preparing to slash $400 billion in spending over 10 years, "most of us understand that the Navy has to ask themselves these tough questions," Wittman said. "But carriers fall on the side of necessary and carriers on five-year build cycles are necessary."

Any effort to delay the carrier or push production to a seven-year cycle from five years is likely to be met with fierce resistance by the Virginia delegation and members of the House Armed Services Committee, said Wittman and fellow Hampton Roads Republican Rep.Scott Rigell.

A delay, Rigell said, would be "completely unacceptable" and put the Navy in direct conflict with a law that requires the sea service to maintain a fleet of 11 carriers.

If the idea gains traction, "it would be met with a coordinated, bipartisan and vigilant effort … by a broad coalition of those of us who understand the importance, value and contribution aircraft carriers bring to national security," Rigell said.

It also raises questions about the Navy's continued commitment to spend more than $500 million to upgrade Naval Station Mayport in Florida to be able to accommodate nuclear-powered aircraft carriers by 2019, Rigell and Scott said.

Today, Norfolk is the home port for five East Coast-based aircraft carriers. The Navy has argued that moving a carrier to Florida would help mitigate any damage from of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or catastrophic accident.

Any discussion of delaying construction of a carrier is an indication that the planned improvements at Mayport "are unwise, unnecessary and unjustified," Rigell said.

Scott called the Mayport upgrade "a waste of money."

Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said the government "should think very carefully about tinkering with the Navy shipbuilding plan, which is currently maximized for efficiency. Historically, any breaks in the production line end up costing the taxpayers more money in the end."